Thursday, 21 July 2011

Why Roberto Alomar deserves to be the first player in Blue Jays history to have his jersey retired

In the 35 year history of the Toronto Blue Jays, they would honour players, media personel and executives whose contributions were significant through its level of excellence. One of the players who is on the level of excellence will also become the first player in Blue Jays history to have his jersey number retired. That person is 2nd baseman Roberto Alomar. Let's look back why he deserves this great honour.
After being traded to the Jays in 1990 from San Diego, he developed into a premier offensive second baseman combining a batting average of .300 plus with above average power and high end speed on the bases. Out of the 10 Gold Gloves he won, four of them were won in Toronto along with one of the sliver slugger award that he won. Apart from that he was part of the back to back championship Blue Jays teams winning it in 1992 and in 1993. Apart from Joe Carter's walk-off home run to clinch the series in 93, the year before in the ALCS, he was part of arguably the most important hit in Blue Jays history when he hit a game tying two run home run vs the Oakland Athletics which they ended up winning because all of the previous trips to the league championship series all ended in hearbreak. Apart from that hit, his performance in that series earned him the ALCS MVP.
Even though theses accomplishments are something to look at and say wow, what also earns him this high honour in the franchise is that when he gets inducted into Cooperstown later this month, he will become the first player to be inducted in a Blue Jays uniform. This is something that Blue Jays fans have been waiting for a long time and it will finally happen.